Luna's legs are getting weaker (x-ray shot of her spine; #77)

It's her 13th birthday tomorrow, but my poor Luna is in severe trouble.

It began two and a half weeks ago when she was in the window sill and tried passing a flower pot. She slipped and fell down, right onto her kitty bed below the window. When she landed, her hind legs were giving in, it's been a scary sight. I brought her to the vet the same morning who examined her and couldn't find any palpable injuries. Luna got a pain med injected, and I was told to give her some pain meds for the next days. I did, and she started doing better. A few days ago, I started - in accordance with my vet - reducing the meds.

This morning, she jumped from the same window sill, onto her bed again, and after that, she could barely walk! Her entire backside was down, she literally crawled towards me; all wobbly and buckling; it's been scaring the hell out of me. She climbed into my bed, sat beside me, her tail twitching in pain and discomfort, but she allowed me comforting her and started purring. When she jumped down about 10 minutes later, her legs were back to normal, even though I could tell she was walking carefully and a little stiff. I put her on pain meds again, which was, according to my former vet whom I've called later today, the right thing to do as they do not only take the pain away but also prevent further inflammation from the trauma.

Both her and my new vet (to whom my former vet gave her office two years ago when she retired) agree that it's going to be hard to find out what's actually wrong with Luna. We know that nothing's broken, and anything else wouldn't be shown in an x-ray shot which is why we haven't done this so far. Most likely, Luna is dealing with arthritis (I can hear her joints making cracking sounds for years, and she's always a little stiff when she's getting up. Over the last years, I have also noticed that one of her hind legs is giving in when she's turning around on a small spot, like the space between my keyboard and my monitor where she loves to walk). She always had weak musles in her hind legs, even as a kitten, she's never been an athletic cat. And now she has gained so much weight from her struvite crystal diet, which makes things worse.

I'm really worried about her, and at the top of it, Lily started attacking her today, taking advantage of Luna's weakness. And I cannot keep Luna from jumping! She's still jumping onto that window sill, and even from her scratching post onto the top of the cabinet! She's a brave little girl. But I fear the day I find she can no longer walk at all!

Awww, poor Luna kitty! Can you cut down on the amount she gets of her food each day and maybe loosing some weight will help her get some mobility back? Poor girl, it is hard to see our beloved pets get older, isn't it? As she has had trouble with her hind legs since kittenhood, I wonder if the nerves there just never properly developed for some reason. You and she will be in our prayers, though it is good that she still does jump, that means she does have some control, and we know it would be impossible to get her not to, anyway!

You tell Miss Lilly that is she keeps it up, she's gonna end up in the Dog House ... or sprayed with water or shut in the bathroom - whichever would horrify her most!

Yes, it's hard to see her getting older, and I'm really worried. She spent the entire evening lying on my desk, eventually I lifted her up to find out if she can still walk at all. She could, but it's easy to see it's not comfortable for her. Lily chased her around a while ago, so I wonder if it made things even worse. I'm trying to protect her from Lily, but sometimes I'm just not fast enough.

You may be right about the nerves, it's what my gut feeling is telling me also. A pinched nerve, or a herniated disk. I really fear she may end up paralized, even though my former vet told me today on the phone that even disk hernias can be treated (to some degree at least) with the kind of medicine she's on. We'll see. But tonight, I'm feeling she's not doing well at all.

I cannot cut down the amount of food because I'm already feeding small portions. But what I can do is getting her a calory-reduced struvite crystal diet made by Hill's. So far, I'm feeding her a struvite crystal diet from the pet store because the Hill's diet is so very expensive over here. But I'm going to order it from my vet's office tomorrow, and I hope it's not too late for her to lose some weight. I'm really worried, and I fear her birthday tomorrow will be her last one.

Awww, okay, maybe the reduced calorie stuff will make a difference - it is amazing what losing some weight can do for a kitty's health, in terms of joints in particular! Sending you hugs, and scritches to Luna!

Kirsten, I'm so sorry to hear this. I sure hope that the pain meds will be able to continue to help her. I've also had overweight cats in the past and my Radar is still currently overweight even though he's a very large cat. You just need to make sure that cats don't lose too much weight too fast or else they can get hepatic lipidosis which is fatty liver disease. My RB Pepper got this when he became very sick which made him lose a lot of weight very quickly. I hope that Lily will stop trying to attack Luna. Cats can sense when another cat is ill or weak and then they try to bully them. Since x-rays won't be able to show anything, did your vet ever mention doing an ultrasound? Maybe this would be able to show something. Lots of prayers and positive thoughts are being sent to both of you. Please take care. (((HUGS)))

I don't know much about cats but I have to agree that it does sound like a nerve problem and possibly some back issue. I'm really sorry you're going through this with Luna, I know your cats mean so much to you. Could you boost her bed higher for when she does decide to jump down so it won't be so far for her to jump? I hope you'll be able to convince Lily that chasing Luna is a bad idea...the water bottle shpuld help with that. Have a special birthday with her tomorrow-- hopefully she'll have another one next year.

"That's the power of kittens (and puppies too, of course): They can reduce us to quivering masses of Jell-O in about two seconds flat and make us like it. Good thing they don't have opposable thumbs or they'd surely have taken over the world by now." -- Paul Lukas

Thank you so much for your support, advice, and prayers. Luna had a rough birthday today, spent most of the day in her refuge behind the couch, and is obviously in pain tonight. She wanted to climb onto my bed and couldn't, but she didn't want me to lift her up either. On the other hand, I found her on the closet this evening, and she's also able to jump onto the kitchen cabinet where she opened one of the doors, hoping to get some treats.

I spoke to my vet this morning and ordered a bag of the calory-reduced Hill's food. She has also suggested a cortisone shot in case the Melosus (her pain med) won't help.

I'm very tired and exhausted tonight and need to go to bed now, I will write more tomorrow. But right now, I can hardly keep my eyes open.